The three important ministers who left had such complicated thoughts at this time. But it was Huang Qiong who left King Yong alone, so naturally he didn't know. After leaving King Yong behind, Huang Qiong remained silent. After a long silence, he looked at King Yong solemnly and said, "After Dong Bin was sentenced to death, was she buried? Where is she buried now? I don't think I still have any thoughts about her. The things she did, No matter how you punish her, it is not wrong. But after all, she has served me for so many years, so she can be considered diligent."
Hearing Huang Qiong's question, there was a hint of sadness on his face. Without hesitation, he spoke directly: "Back to Your Majesty, although Concubine Dong violated the family law of her ancestors and was sentenced to death after being convicted, she is still Your Majesty's concubine. How to deal with her body still requires Your Majesty's golden words. And Regarding the attitude of Her Majesty the Queen, although Concubine Dong has committed a serious crime, she is still His Majesty's concubine. She has served Your Majesty these years and she has been conscientious. The placement of her remains will have to wait until His Majesty returns to Beijing."
"So after Dong Concubine was sentenced to death, the Queen Mother ordered that she be specially rewarded with a high-quality cypress coffin. She also sent someone to deliver it to the palace. The coffins of the palace maids and eunuchs who died of illness and had no family to rely on were temporarily stored in the palace and cremated for storage. The ashes are temporarily placed in Jingle Temple, so that he can wait for His Majesty to report how to deal with it after he returns to Beijing. In addition, the coffin minister also separately told the steward of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Jingle Temple to take good care of the coffin and store it separately. No anything is allowed. There is no disrespect, and incense must be offered inside every day.”
After King Yong finished speaking, Huang Qiong pondered for a moment and asked King Yong to accompany him to take a look. Just as he said, although Dong Qianhong committed a huge crime, after all, he had served him wholeheartedly over the years. What's more, she gave birth to a son for herself. No matter how serious the sin is, the debt will be wiped out by death. Dong Qianhong now has no family, and she is her only relative. Even if she once joined forces with outsiders and tried every means to remove her husband from herself.
King Yong did not hesitate at all regarding Huang Qiong's request. After changing clothes, he took Nangong Zhen, Liu's two daughters, Duan Yan'er, and several guards out of the palace, and came to the Jinle Temple outside the North City Gate where the coffins and ashes of deceased palace maids and eunuchs were placed. There is an Anletang in the palace specifically for the eunuchs and maids who are elderly, have lost the ability to work, or are seriously ill and have no family to take them in. After the death of these people, according to the wishes of the individual. Or they may be sent to a special burial place outside the city.
Or in the three pagodas dedicated to Jingle Temple. Whether it is Anle Hall or Jingle Temple, the eunuchs and maids in the palace deduct some money from their monthly salary according to different levels after entering the palace, usually one hundred and sixty cents. It was handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was specially put in charge of the eunuchs, to bear the expenses. The higher the rank and the higher the monthly salary, the more money the eunuch pays. Several leading eunuchs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as the eunuchs in charge of each palace, and the female officials in the Shang Palace Bureau.
What you pay is more, generally around three guans per person. Because no matter whether they are high-ranking eunuchs or palace maids, they will all grow old one day. Many of them can no longer find their families, or simply have no family members. Even if you have family members, because you are too embarrassed to meet your ancestors as a eunuch, your family members may not be willing to accept you, or you may not be willing to go back. Therefore, no matter how high-ranking the eunuch or female officer is, they will be happy to pay in this matter. Those big eunuchs who were not short of money even donated some extra.
Just like the eunuchs and maids who are favored by Anletang today, Gao Wuyong around the old man is responsible for the food rations and food money. Because they will all go there in the future, especially those eunuchs, this is the final destination for most people. Therefore, no one withheld the money. The maids and eunuchs in Anle Hall even had better food than before in the palace. There is medicine for illnesses, and winter clothes are distributed on time every year. If you die and want to be buried, there is a pretty good coffin to wrap yourself in.
After Huang Qiong succeeded to the throne, most of these people were left homeless and had worked for the Tian family all their lives. Most of them did not even have a single child. After all, those rich and powerful eunuchs and female officials were only a minority. Most of the eunuchs and maids in the palace don't have many monthly appointments. Instead of deducting money from ordinary eunuchs and maids, the inner treasury directly allocated 10,000 yuan every year to maintain the two places. Of course, Huang Qiong, who voluntarily donated extra money to the serving eunuchs, did not care.
Because Dong Qianhong was given death, she was also Huang Qiong's first concubine to die. How to dispose of the body needs to be decided by Huang Qiong himself. And because of her status as a concubine, Huang Qiong could not bury her casually before making a decision, and it was impossible to store a body in the palace for a long time. Customized in the palace, except for the emperor, the empress dowager, and the empress, if any concubine dies, the mourning shall not be suspended for more than seven days. After seven days, it is necessary to leave the palace. Not to mention Huang Qiong's concubines sleeping in the garden, there is no shadow of his own mausoleum.
It is also not allowed to be sent to the imperial mausoleum in Gong County to be temporarily enshrined in the palace because it is a convicted person. So after Dong Qianhong's death, Situ Huanshuang and He Yao sent him here for temporary rest after several discussions. Although she no longer has the title of concubine, Dong Qianhong is still a member of the palace. You can't just find a place to bury someone. Or send it to a crematorium outside the city, have it cremated, and then dispose of it as you wish. Situ Huanshuang himself did not agree with Huang Qiong's decision, and he would not take it lightly.
When Huang Qiong arrived, a homeless man was being cremated in the temple. The remains of the palace maids who died of illness are found in Nei'anletang, a special place for elderly palace maids and eunuchs. But standing outside the temple, looking at the thick black smoke rising inside the temple, Huang Qiong sighed. I remembered that every time Dong Qianhong served her, she would be submissive and let her do whatever she wanted. Those things I did in Xijing in order to please myself. At this time, Huang Qiong's heart was not just sad, but even indescribable pain.
When he was still in Xijing, he knew that Dong Qianhong had a strong desire for power and utilitarianism, and his ears were also a bit soft. Why not take some precautions early? Especially when he discovered that she was very close to Concubine De after he ascended the throne and moved into the palace, why didn't he stop her? At least when she was dissatisfied with Duan Jin and He Yao because of their account ban, why didn't she try to persuade them. If only I had done something earlier or comforted her, things would definitely not have reached the point where they are now.
Seeing Huang Qiong's face sinking like water, King Yong hurriedly sent a guard into the temple and asked the person in charge to drive him. But before the steward could be summoned, Huang Qiong waved his hand and said: "Forget it, I won't go in. I'd like to trouble Seventh Brother and cremate Dong Bin. Then he collected the ashes and found a Buddhist temple to enshrine them. Find it. After the temple, don’t mention her true identity, just say she is an ordinary layman, but write her name on the jar. I would also trouble Brother Qi to donate more incense money to the temple on my behalf every year.”
After that, he took another look at the temple, where the thick black smoke was still rising. After a long silence, he turned and left. Looking at Huang Qiong who turned to leave, King Yong wanted to persuade him that he should go in and take a look when he was already here. Just thinking about what happened between this Lord and the one lying inside, King Yong finally gave up the idea of persuasion. When he heard that the emperor was arriving, the steward who hurriedly changed his clothes and came out to greet him arrived and made it clear what Huang Qiong meant. And he stayed in the temple until Dong Qianhong was cremated before leaving.
And looking at Huang Qiong, who has been feeling a little depressed since leaving Jingle Temple. Following him, Nangong Zhen, who was disguised as a man as a guard, looked at each other and didn't know how to persuade Duan Yan'er. Although they didn't know what Huang Qiong was doing here. I don’t even know what this courtyard located outside the North City Gate is for. But they really felt Huang Qiong's emotional instability. But Huang Qiong remained silent, and they didn't know what to do.
After entering the city, they saw that they were not far from Zhang Qiaoer's residence, and the two Liu daughters looked at each other. Knowing that Huang Qiong loves Zhang Qiaoer's second daughter very much, in order to make Huang Qiong happy. Then he proposed to have dinner at Zhang Qiaoer's place. After hearing the proposal of the second daughter of the Liu family, Huang Qiong pondered for a moment and then nodded in agreement. He has been away from Beijing for more than half a year, which means that he has not seen Zhang Qiaoer for more than half a year. After returning to Beijing, he was busy comforting the ladies in the palace and handling state affairs. He had not summoned Zhang Qiaoer yet.
I also missed it strangely in my heart. Now I happened to walk near her, and seeing her not only filled my stomach, but also comforted my lovesickness. Thinking of this, Huang Qiong raised his legs and turned towards Zhang Qiaoer's house. But before he took two steps, he suddenly remembered what the woman had said to him, and finally stopped. He shook his head at the girls and called a guard to give him some instructions. After the guard left, he turned around and found a random place to have dinner, then returned to the palace.
After returning to the palace, Huang Qiong did not go back to the harem directly, but went to Wende Hall. While reviewing the papers, I waited for a reply. It wasn't until he heard a report from a hurried eunuch that Huang Qiong put down the pen in his hand, dropped the unfinished notes, and turned around to go to the harem. When he entered the bathroom, he found Zhang Qiaoer, who was only wearing a light gauze with a hint of shyness on his face, waiting for him. When seeing Zhang Qiaoer, Huang Qiong couldn't wait to hug the woman and kissed her deeply.
After a long time, Huang Qiong was still unfinished and let go of the panting beauty. But then he held the beauty in his arms and looked at her carefully. It wasn't until Zhang Qiaoer's face turned red that he reluctantly leaned into the beauty's ear and said softly: "My precious Qiaoer, I haven't seen you for more than half a year, and I really miss you. Let me take a good look at it. See if you have lost any weight. When I went south, I would have taken Qiaoer with me. That way, I wouldn’t think about Qiaoer, and I’d be up all night thinking about it.”
Zhang Qiaoer, whose face was flushed by Huang Qiong, felt the broad chest of the man holding her, and the flames caused by the man's evil hands up and down. Holding Huang Qiong's face, he couldn't help but say emotionally: "I miss Your Majesty too. During the period when His Majesty was away from the capital, he often appeared in my dreams. Every time I go to the palace to see my sister and Sister Cai, I look forward to thinking about them. I want to be able to see His Majesty. But I always come back disappointed. Today I can finally see Your Majesty. I’m really happy.”
Seeing the two people together, Zhang Yuner and Liang, who were serving Huang Qiong to undress, couldn't help but look at each other and sighed helplessly in their hearts. They had always thought that Zhang Qiaoer had no choice but to succumb to the power of this master. But looking at it now, it's not that at all. Both of them are obviously in love with each other. If Zhang Qiaoer hadn't taken care of her two children and still had some kind of friendship with Liu Chang in her heart, she would have entered the palace long ago.
Among the two, Zhang Yun'er was better off. No matter what, it's all for his sister. But the Liang family felt somewhat unworthy of Liu Chang who was still traveling around. Although he had become a fourth-grade prefect, he was still working for that master.
